Malaysia Airlines: False Passports Terror Probe
Interpol says at least two passports used on the
missing Malaysia Airlines plane were stolen and it is "examining
additional suspect passports" used on the flight.
The international police body said it was of "great concern" that
passengers were able to board the Boeing 777-200 using stolen passports,
and no checks had been made against its database.Security services are investigating whether the plane carrying 239 people was destroyed in a terror attack.
The search area has been widened after radar data indicated the plane may have turned back.
The FBI and Boeing have joined the investigation after it was revealed four passengers may have been travelling on false passports.
Malaysia's defence and transport minister Hishamuddin Hussein told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur: "All the four names are with me."
He confirmed Malaysian investigators have met counterparts from the FBI, and said the operation is focusing on "the entire passenger manifest".
It emerged on Saturday that two people boarded the plane using stolen European passports.
"On the issue of the passports, I'm in touch with the international intelligence agencies," he said.
"At the same time our own intelligence has been activated, and of course, the counter-terrorism units ... from all the relevant countries have been informed."
Asked whether he believes the plane was hijacked, he would only say: "We are looking at all possibilities."
The two men using stolen passports reportedly bought their tickets together from a travel agency in Pattaya, Thailand, and were due to fly on to Europe from Beijing.
Flight MH370 was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished around two hours into the flight.
The plane disappeared from radar at 1.30am (5.30pm UK time) on Friday, about 85 miles (135km) north of the Malaysian city of Kuala Terengganu.
A huge search involving 22 aircraft and 40 ships is continuing in the vast waters of the Gulf of Thailand, between Vietnam and Malaysia.
It concentrated around the Vietnamese island resort of Phu Quoc after Vietnamese air force jets spotted two huge oil slicks.
The parallel slicks - both between 10 miles (16km) and 12 miles (19km) long and 500 metres apart - were consistent with the kind of spills caused by fuel from a crashed airliner, a Vietnamese government statement said.
US federal safety officials said a team of experts are heading to Asia to help in the investigation.
The team includes accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, as well as technical experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing.
The plane's disappearance is especially mysterious because it happened when the plane was at cruising altitude, not during the more dangerous phases of take-off or landing.
Officials are examining CCTV footage of passengers boarding the plane.
One of the passengers was listed as a 37-year-old Italian called Luigi Maraldi but he has contacted his parents to say he was not on the airliner.
He had his passport stolen in Thailand several months ago, leaving questions over who used his passport to board the plane and whether that has anything to do with the airliner's disappearance.
Another passenger used a passport belonging to Austrian citizen Christian Kozel, whose passport was stolen in Thailand two years ago.
He is listed as one of the passengers although he has been confirmed as safe and well by authorities.
Relatives are still waiting anxiously at Beijing airport for news of their loved ones.
Tech firm Freescale Semiconductor said 20 of its staff were on the plane.
In a statement it said: "Twelve are from Malaysia and eight are from China. The entire Freescale Semiconductor community is deeply saddened by this news."
